This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Most, if not all, automobiles today have a central console to control many of the devices in the vehicle. For example, the central console may have buttons for controlling the Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) system, the audio system, a navigation system or stored media files. Many of these vehicles may also include a set of predetermined shortcuts on the steering wheel, for the driver's convenience. For example, a steering wheel may include volume control buttons and/or radio control buttons. This allows the driver to easily control certain functions within the vehicle without removing his or her hands from the steering wheel.
These shortcuts, however, are hard wired in that the decision of which functions the shortcuts control and the physical location of the shortcuts is the decision of the car manufacturer. Accordingly, a user is limited in the shortcuts that he or she may use by the manufacturer's design choice. Thus, there is a need for a user input system that allows the user to select which shortcuts are available to the user, the location of these shortcuts, and the size of the shortcuts.
Furthermore, the short cuts are programmed only for the Original Equipment Manufacture (OEM) devices. A automobile owner wanting to update, for example, the automobile's audio system would have to do so at the expense of losing the use of the shortcuts for the OEM audio system. Thus, there is a further need for a user input system on the steering wheel that allows interoperability between the user input shortcuts and after-market devices.